Mazatlan or Nuevo Vallarta?

Both are first-rate beach places, but the beaches are not the same kind. Mazatlan's shore is open Pacific and varied: rocky little bays by the old town, the fishing beach at Playa Norte, hotel sand in the Zona Dorada and the island coves across the harbour. The surf can be strong, and the water is fresh in late winter.

Nuevo Vallarta has one long, soft, golden strand inside Banderas Bay. The water there is warmer and usually calmer, but resorts line almost all of it, and after summer storms it can turn murky near the river mouth.

Mazatlan eats far better on its own doorstep. As a shrimp port it has seafood everywhere, from morning cocktail carts and breakfasts in the Pino Suárez market to grilled fish at beach shacks with a cold local lager, all within the city.

Nuevo Vallarta shares the same coastal cooking, adding coconut ceviche and raicilla, but you will hardly find it inside the resorts. A good meal here means planning an evening in Bucerias or Puerto Vallarta.

Mazatlan has a modest cultural side, while Nuevo Vallarta has almost none. Mazatlan's old port quarter of painted houses, the arcaded Plazuela Machado, the cathedral, the Teatro Ángela Peralta and the climb to El Faro fill a day or two away from the sand.

Nuevo Vallarta is a planned enclave of hotels, golf courses and a marina. Its nearest history is Puerto Vallarta's cobbled streets and crowned church, which you visit as an outing rather than live among.

After dark Mazatlan has far more going on. You can choose between the loud, late bars and dance clubs of the Zona Dorada and quieter tables around the Plazuela Machado, and the week of Carnaval before Lent fills the malecón. Out of season it does quieten early on weeknights.

In Nuevo Vallarta the evening means a lobby bar, the pool show or a drink at the marina, and most of the strip is asleep by midnight. A proper night out, including Puerto Vallarta's well-known gay scene, is always a taxi ride away.

Nuevo Vallarta has the stronger wildlife. Humpbacks come right into Banderas Bay to calve, the Marietas Islands are a protected national park with snorkelling under rocky arches, and behind the coast there are the crocodiles of the Ameca mangroves and jungle canyons with zip-lines.

Mazatlan offers similar things on a smaller scale. Whales pass offshore in winter, you can kayak and snorkel around Isla de Venados, there is sportfishing and point-break surf, and herons nest in the estuaries south of the harbour, but the pine forests of the sierra are about two hours inland.

Nuevo Vallarta has many more easy outings. Puerto Vallarta is about half an hour south, and the coast to the north is a string of small towns: gallery-lined Bucerias, surfing Sayulita, quiet San Pancho and Punta Mita. Yelapa by boat and the mountain village of San Sebastián del Oeste add variety.

From Mazatlan the usual trip is a single day inland to the colonial and silver-mining villages of the foothills, such as Concordia and Copala. Once you have done that, most people go back to the beach.

Nuevo Vallarta is the easier family base. Its resorts are designed around children, with shallow pools, water slides, kids' clubs and food at any hour, and the calm, shelving beach suits small swimmers. Whale watching, turtle releases at dusk and the local water parks fill the days.

Mazatlan welcomes children too, as a long-standing vacation spot for Mexican families, and its large aquarium is a good escape from the afternoon heat. The open beaches can be too rough for little ones, though, so the safe swimming is mostly in hotel pools and the island coves.

Mazatlan is the simpler place to move about without a car. The malecón runs about 20km from the compact old centre to the Zona Dorada, buses work the coast road, and open-air pulmonías make even a short taxi ride fun.

Nuevo Vallarta stretches along a resort boulevard where little is within walking distance except along the beach. The highway buses are a long, hot walk from the sand, so taxis, shuttles or a hire car do most of the work. Its one real advantage is an airport about twenty minutes away.

Neither is a shopping destination, though Mazatlan has a little more to browse in town: the Pino Suárez market hall for leather and local sweets, a few artists' studios in the old streets, and silver and hammocks in the Zona Dorada. In Nuevo Vallarta the resort boutiques sell little beyond swimwear, and the Huichol beadwork worth buying is found in Bucerias or Puerto Vallarta's river market.

Mazatlan is the cheaper stay by some way, because most of the city is priced for Mexican families rather than foreign visitors. Market breakfasts, street seafood, buses and short taxi rides all keep costs low, especially if you base yourself near the historic centre.

Nuevo Vallarta caters mainly to North Americans in resorts and condominiums, and prices inside the enclave reflect that. An all-inclusive package at least makes the cost predictable, and tacos in Bucerias cost far less than anything at the hotel.

Mazatlan has a genuine stage in the restored Teatro Ángela Peralta, with concerts, opera and dance and the city's autumn cultural festival, as well as banda sinaloense playing on the streets and in beach restaurants.

Nuevo Vallarta's performances are resort entertainment: poolside shows, mariachi and folkloric dinners, and one acrobatic dinner theatre production. For cabaret or drag you need to go to Puerto Vallarta.

Nuevo Vallarta is designed for unwinding. The larger resorts run extensive spas with hydrotherapy circuits, many offer the traditional temazcal sweat lodge, and massages under palapas and beach yoga are easy to arrange, although it all depends on which hotel you book.

Mazatlan has no spa tradition of its own, and its treatments are limited to a few resort hotels and massage places in the Zona Dorada. Its calm comes instead from slow sunsets on the malecón and hammock days at Cerritos or on Isla de la Piedra.